Chapin Street Trees

See updates below:

There are 17 mature Liquidambar trees on Chapin Street.  There are an additional seven Liquidambar trees on the nearby 900 and 1000 blocks of Pacific Avenue. We estimate these trees to be at least 50 to 60 years old. 

The trees have provided many benefits to the neighborhood including seasonal habitat for the endangered Coopers Hawk. There is a brief Q&A about the hawks in the "details" tab.

In recent years however, these trees have caused back-ups in the main-sewer line, lifted sidewalks, and raised street pavement, especially within the 1700 block of Chapin Street. 

Some of the trees have suffered severe, unforeseen branch failures and, according to Arborist reports, there is also a possibility of internal decay problems in the trees at 1704, 1720 and 1728 Chapin Street. See the reports in the "details" tab.

The City of Alameda's pruning cycle for mature street trees is every 5 years. The last time the trees on both Chapin Street and the 900 and 1000 blocks of Pacific Avenue were pruned was three years ago.  The most recent serious branch failure on the 1700 block of Chapin Street was within the last three months.

Unfortunately, some of these serious problems cannot be mitigated through pruning alone and ultimately the options of how to go about resolving these issues continues to narrow as the trees age further.

In early September 2014, city staff held a neighborhood meeting at the 1700 block of Chapin Street to hear concerns and discuss how to move forward. It was agreed that the City would get a second arborist’s opinion on the condition of the trees.

The City has hired Registered Consulting Arborists Steve Batchelder and Molly Batchelder as well as Registered Arborist Dennis Yniguez from Tree Decisions to extensively evaluate and assess the trees. 

Registered Arborist Eric Carlson was also hired to perform aerial inspections and assist with measuring the internal decay using specialized equipment (called a resistograph). 

The aerial inspections consisted of inspecting the canopy and scaffold branches.  A bucket truck was used during this process so that potential branch collar problems that cannot be seen from the ground level could be inspected.  Both the aerial inspections and resistographs occurred the week of October 20, 2014. All of the 8 Liquidambar trees on the 1700 block of Chapin were assessed as well as the 7 Liquidambar trees on the 900 and 1000 blocks of Pacific Ave.  We will conduct inspections on the remaining 9 Liquidambar trees on 1600 and 1800 blocks of Chapin Street at a later date.

Of the four Arborists conducting these inspections, Dennis Yniguez will provide the final report with recommendations.  We anticipate this to be completed by November 4^th, 2014.  We will publish the new report here, in the "details" tab, and then schedule the next public meeting to make a decision about how to move forward.

Update: 1  -- October 23, 2014